Jack Benny
Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television and film actor, and violinist. Early years As a boy, Jack learned to play the violin and worked at different theaters playing. Later, he worked alongside the Marx Brothers and accompanied one of the brothers – Zeppo Marx – to a Passover Seder where Jack met Sadie Marks. After courting and marrying Sadie, Benny went on to work with MGM under contract. The contract didn’t last long, however, and when his second movie turned out to be a flop, Jack was released. Not until after Jack was invited to the Ed Sullivan Program that he starred on the radio. Radio After his appearance with Ed Sullavan, Jack was given his own show, with Canada Dry Ginger Ale as a sponsor —''The Canada Dry Ginger Ale Program, beginning May 2, 1932, on the NBC Blue Network and continuing there for six months until October 26, moving the show to CBS on October 30. With Ted Weems leading the band, Benny stayed on CBS until January 26, 1933. Arriving at NBC on March 17, Benny did 'The Chevrolet Program' until April 1, 1934, with Frank Black leading the band. He continued with 'The General Tire Revue' for the rest of that season, and in the fall of 1934, for General Foods as 'The Jell-O Program Starring Jack Benny' (1934–42) and, when sales of Jell-O were affected by sugar rationing during World War II, 'The Grape Nuts Flakes Program Starring Jack Benny' (Later the Grape Nuts and Grape Nuts Flakes Program) (1942–44). On October 1, 1944, the show became 'The Lucky Strike Program Starring Jack Benny', when American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes took over as his radio sponsor, through the mid-1950s. By that time, the practice of using the sponsor's name as the title began to fade. Television Jack Benny made his TV debut in 1949 with a local appearance on Los Angeles station KTTV, then a CBS affiliate. In October 1950, he made his full network debut over CBS Television. Benny's television shows were occasional broadcasts in his early seasons on TV, as he was still firmly dedicated to radio. The regular and continuing ''Jack Benny Program ''was telecast on CBS from October 28, 1950, to September 15, 1964 (finally becoming a weekly show in the 1960-1961 season), and on NBC from September 25, 1964, to September 10, 1965. 343 episodes were produced. The television show was a seamless continuation of Benny's radio program, employing many of the same players, the same approach to situation comedy and some of the same scripts. ''The Jack Benny Program appeared infrequently during its first two years on CBS-TV. Benny moved into television slowly: in his first season (1950–1951), he only performed on four shows, but by the 1951-1952 season, he was ready to do one show approximately every six weeks. In the third season (1952–1953), the show was broadcast every four weeks. During the 1953-1954 season, The Jack Benny Program aired every three weeks.Category:The jack benny program Category:Actor